Haven
by AddictedToStory
Summary: "'My haven is Jade. Everything she is and has been and will be.'"/ A series of Bade one-shots.
1. Haven

"Alright, guys. We're going to move on to presenting our creative nonfiction now. Does anyone want to volunteer?" Mrs. Henley was a short, plump woman with auburn hair and a penchant for assigning her senior creative writing class weekend homework. This particular assignment was to write a piece of creative nonfiction centered around the prompt 'haven'.

A girl with short pink hair and wire rimmed glasses volunteered to read first; apparently, her safe place was the park across the street from her house. Mrs. Henley could barely contain a sigh. This assignment didn't usually inspire very creative pieces. If she had a dime for every student who had written about the park, she would have been able to retire to Orlando three years ago. She listened as, one after another, students described their bedrooms, backyards, cabins, and childhood clubhouses. One girl wrote about the animal shelter and another claimed that school was their safe place. Mrs. Henley was at least mildly intrigued by those.

Mrs. Henley had slipped so far into her tired stupor that she didn't even remember calling on the girl in the back of the class with the tattoos, piercings, and colorful hair. Nevertheless, Jade West was moving toward the front of the room, notebook in hand, before Mrs. Henley snapped out of it enough to question whether or not this particular assignment could have prompted her to write something horrible and scarring.

"My haven is pitch black," Jade started, and Mrs. Henley couldn't say she was completely surprised by this declaration. "Pitch black and completely still. The only sound is that of rain pounding against a metal roof barely five feet above. I know the place well enough to find my way around, even in the blackness, but I don't need to move right now. I don't need to do anything right now. I know that I would normally describe the bed as too small, the mattress as too hard, and the blankets as too old. But, in this particular moment, they all seem perfectly warm and soft.

"However soft the bed may be, though, it is him that makes this my haven instead of the nightmare it once could have been. His arms are wrapped so tightly around me that I couldn't move if I wanted to. Once, I might have said it was possessive or controlling, but I've since calmed down enough to notice the love and the genuine desire to be close to me that radiates from his body. I can feel his steady, slow breathing against the back of my neck and near hypnotizing circles drawn by his thumb on my stomach.

"We may talk, or sleep, or stare into the blackness, but regardless of what we do, there are no expectations. I'm not worried about how I look, what I say, or any of my responsibilities outside of this place on this night. This is calm. This is love. This is my haven."

Jade sits down amid the stunned silence of her classmates. No one, certainly not Mrs. Henley, had expected Jade's haven to be anything less than disturbing and cruel. Finding out that she felt the most calm in such a mundane setting, albeit one that is often either overlooked or anxiety producing, was such a surprise. Finding out that love was such an integral part of that calm was even more surprising.

Beck Oliver, Jade's boyfriend, took advantage of the silence to make his way up to the front and start reading. Mrs. Henley, still thinking of Jade's writing and so used to thinking of the two of them as a package deal, barely noticed that she hadn't even called on him.

"My haven is texts about random things at two in the morning. My haven is watching old sitcoms all day, even though she says she hates them. My haven is broadway music and making chocolate chip cookies for no real reason. It is losing badly at Scrabble because she already knows more words than I'll learn in a lifetime. It is midnight drives, prank wars, and Mario Kart tournaments. It is her lavender shampoo on the weekends and the way she laughs when I tickle her. It is keeping the phone on all night when we're forced to sleep in separate beds. Slow, lazy kissing and getting take out because we couldn't be bothered to stop long enough to cook. Swimming in her pool and dates at the arcade. Taking photography walks and sitting in the park while she draws. Compliments, and I love yous, and skipping school to get smoothies when I fail a test. The make up bag she keeps in my bathroom. Her inability to stay awake during science class. The fact that she programmed my fingerprint into her phone and the way she smiled when I handed her mine. My haven is the way she stays up all night writing and reads to me when I'm sick. My haven is her singing voice and the way she taps piano melodies onto my skin when she's bored and fidgety. My haven is Jade. Everything she is and has been and will be."

More stunned silence as Beck sits back down next to her and she pulls him into a kiss. The bell rings and it takes a few seconds before anyone realizes. Mrs. Henley is still deep in thought by the time her next class files in to the room. She certainly hadn't been expecting that.

* * *

**This will eventually turn into a series of one-shots about Beck and Jade. All non-linear and unrelated unless specified.  
****Thanks for reading!  
****-J**


	2. Blue Skies

On the last day of junior year, the gang meets up at Tori's to swim. It's warm and sunny outside, perfect weather to match the mood of this get-together. They're all scattered around the backyard, putting on sunscreen and doing last-minute checks to their social media feeds before shutting their phones off. Out of the corner of his eye, Beck watches Cat and Tori taking selfies; arms around each other, camera angles and expressions varying every few seconds, loud laughter erupting from them whenever a picture captures a particularly bad pose. Just out of view of the camera, Jade stands watching them, arms folded across her chest and glare fixed firmly onto her face. He sees the anger first, and then everything it's masking.

He immediately makes his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and placing a kiss to her temple. She leans away from him and he pretends it doesn't hurt. Changing tactics, he leans down to whisper in her ear.

"So, West, ready to have your ass kicked in this cannonball competition?"

He sees the smile spread across her face and feels at least some of the tension leave her shoulders.

"You wish."

And, with that, they're racing towards the pool, shoving each other out of the way as they go.

* * *

**So this is ridiculously short, but I'm uploading chapter 3 right now (also really short, most of these probably will be).  
****Thanks for reading!  
****-J**


	3. Healing

**Trigger Warning: Mentions of self harm.**

* * *

She can feel his eyes burning into her wrist while he's supposed to be watching the _Full House _marathon that he's been waiting for since last month's _Full House _marathon. She waits until the commercial (when he doesn't immediately reach for the remote to fast forward and then slump his shoulders dejectedly when he remembers it's live, she knows he's completely out of it) to confront him.

"Seriously, dude, what's up? I promise there aren't any new ones." She knows he can tell; he's had the criss cross pattern memorized for the past two years and has always noticed new ones within a day.

He shakes his head to reorient himself and takes her hand, openly studying her now that all pretenses are lost. "It's not that. Sorry, I just… I don't know, I've been thinking about you a lot today. I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner."

"That's obviously not your fault," She says with a scoff. He smiles at her, though it looks a little sad.

"Still. I hate thinking about you, all alone, feeling bad enough to do _this_ to yourself. I just want to make it better.'

"You did. You _do._"

He kisses every single scar that night and tells her he loves her about three times for each one. Normally, she might get annoyed and embarrassed and tell him to stop, but the look on his face makes her concede. She'll let him have this. Maybe a tiny part of her needs it too.


	4. Haunted House

**Trigger Warning: Anxiety, panic attacks**

* * *

The first thing they see when they round the corner is a blinding white light. Gunshots echo loudly in their ears and screams of terror can be heard in the distance. Beck feels a small, cold hand slide into his own and he holds on tight.

As they move further into the 'Zombie High School', their night vision effectively ruined by the light, Beck sees an actor moving around out of the corner of his eye. As he expected, the actor jumps out at them, moving stiffly and moaning like a zombie. Beck doesn't even flinch, but Jade actually screams, gripping his hand even tighter.

Beck knows Jade isn't particularly afraid of zombies and that jump scares in movies never really have much of an effect on her. For some reason though, people popping up unexpectedly really terrifies her.

As another actor moves towards them, Jade recoils into him. He wraps an arm around her waist and is surprised to find that her breathing is much shakier than he expected it to be. It only takes one more jump scare, this time thanks to a zombie librarian, to launch a full-fledged panic attack.

"Stop it, please!"

Beck is shocked by the sheer terror in Jade's voice and even more shocked when the pleas don't stop coming.

"I want to go home! Stop it! Stop it! Please, I don't want to be here anymore!"

Beck wraps his arm more tightly around Jade and leans down towards her ear to ensure she can hear him. "I'm right here, Love. I won't let anything happen to you, but we have to keep moving, alright? Keep moving, and it will be over really soon, I promise."

She's still screaming and she won't look up from the ground. Her breathing is ragged and she's relying entirely on him to keep her from walking into anything as they stumble through a derelict classroom.

"Please stop it! No! I want to go home!"

Beck makes eye contact with the zombie teacher and shakes his head. The man backs off quickly, letting them pass without incident.

"I know you do, J, but we have to go through. Remember, they're just actors, like us. They're normal people wearing costumes and makeup. They aren't allowed to touch you. You'll be fine, I promise."

"No, please! I need to leave!"

Jade is inconsolable at this point and Beck knows she isn't going to listen to him. He holds her behind him as he looks for more actors around the next corner. Two cheerleaders start stumbling forward, unable to tell just how afraid Jade actually is in the dark hallway. They back off when she starts screaming again.

They walk into a seemingly empty cafeteria, lit with red lights. The room is big enough for Beck to pull Jade aside and let people pass them while he gives her a chance to calm down. He stands in front of her and rubs her arms, chasing her gaze until she finally looks at him.

"Just look right here, Love. I've got you. It's almost over and then we can go get cider and donuts, alright?"

She looks up at him and his heart breaks at the fear written all over her face. "Please, Beck, make it stop!"

He sighs, unsure what to do. The gunshots continue to echo off the walls and he can hear the people that just passed them screaming in the next room.

"Okay. I'll carry you, alright?" He lifts her up and she wraps her arms around his neck. He keeps one hand on her back and the other under her butt. "Just don't look up, okay? Close your eyes, keep your head on my shoulder. I promise nothing is going to touch you. Even if you hear something, don't look. It doesn't matter."

He feels her nod, noticing that his shirt is wet with her tears. He starts moving through to the next room, ignoring the actors and focusing on making sure he doesn't accidently bump her knee or elbow into anything.

"I love you," he whispers into her ear, "You're my favorite person ever and I love you so much and I won't ever let anything hurt you."

He rubs gentle circles on her back and he can feel her breathing even out just a little bit. He glares at a zombie jock and the guy backs off, moving back into the corner to scare the next group. He doesn't see the second jock in time to warn him off, so the guy jumps out and starts growling loudly just inches away from Jade's ear. She flinches and starts screaming again. Beck glares at the guy, even though he can't see in the dark classroom. Jade's breathing is way too fast now.

They end up in the locker room and the football coach stops mid-jump to look at them curiously. "Do you want me to get her out of here?" He asks kindly. Beck looks down at Jade, who is literally shaking in his arms, and nods.

The man starts moving towards an inconspicuous second exit behind a row of lockers. They wind up in the gym and the group of football players waiting for them in there stop when they notice the coach. "Back off," he tells them and leads Beck through another door. They see the back of a classroom set and walk past the principal's office, not going through either.

He finally pushes open a heavy grey door and Beck is met with a rush of cool air. He thanks the actor and makes his way over to a bench, setting Jade down gently. She still has her eyes closed tightly and she's shaking her head aggressively, rocking back and forth. Beck kneels down in the grass next to her. "It's alright. It's over. We're outside now."

She cracks one eye open and, when she sees that he's telling the truth, she opens them both. Her rocking stops, but her breathing is still much too shallow.

"Can I hug you?" Sometimes physical contact helps her calm down, but other times it just freaks her out even more. She nods, but it's just as erratic as her breathing. He immediately pulls her into a hug and rubs her back, holding her until she seems more stable. He gently pulls away and looks her in the eye. "You alright?" Another nod.

"Thanks," she says quietly, not looking him in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Everything's alright. Let's get some water, okay?" He helps her stand up and keeps his arm around her waist as they make their way to the refreshment stand. He notices that she keeps flinching every time another person gets even somewhat close to her and her head keeps swiveling around to check (and double check) her surroundings. He buys the cider and donuts he knows the rest of the group will want as soon as they make it out of the house, as well as a bottle of water that Jade drinks half of before he's even finished paying.

They sit back down at a picnic table and he notices that she can look at him again. He smiles at her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

She finishes the bottle and leans into his side. He can tell she's exhausted. He kisses the top of her head and sighs. "It wasn't the zombies, was it?"

"No. I really don't know what happened. I just couldn't tell what was happening or- or where to look or what anything meant and there were people all around, but I couldn't see them and they got too close and I just- I- I don't know. I'm sorry. I didn't know I would freak out like that." She starts breathing fast again and Beck immediately puts a hand on her arm to get her to stop before she actually passes out.

"It's okay, seriously. Now we know to stay away from haunted houses. No big deal."

Just then, they hear Cat's unmistakable laughter from somewhere near the exit of the house and their group emerges, all looking marginally scared, but laughing their heads off. He can hear Tori laughing at Andre, hitting his shoulder repeatedly, and yelling "You should have seen your face!"

Jade looks at Beck with wide eyes. She grabs his arm tightly. "Don't say anything. Please."

"I promise."

The group makes their way over to the table, still laughing and everyone immediately starts grabbing for donuts and filling the styrofoam cups with cider. Only about half of the jug spills on the table.

"What happened to you guys, anyway?" Tori asks Beck. He shrugs.

"It was dark, I guess we got ahead of you at some point and never noticed."

Tori shrugs and starts talking about how afraid she was, still laughing. Cat joins in with "I almost peed my pants!" and Rex claims that Robbie actually did. More laughter takes over the table, but Beck can tell Jade is still breathing too heavily and she still won't focus on anything for too long, rescanning the area every few seconds. He kisses her again and smiles at her. She returns it, albeit half-heartedly.

As everyone else finishes off their snacks and starts running out of aspects of the house to comment on, Beck watches Jade carefully. Her panic attack really freaked him out. Much more than the zombies ever could have. He can't get her screams out of his head.

He once told Sikowitz that he was unscareable- and that's true when it comes to jump scares and gore- but it turns out that, when Jade is threatened, he's just as easily scared as anyone else out there.

* * *

**Hi! Me again. Sorry if Jade seems a bit ooc in this one. I had a panic attack at a haunted house this weekend and I wanted to write about it, as I often do when I get freaked out, and figured it would sort of work as a Bade story.**

**I also wanted to thank everyone for reviewing, favoriting, and following. It's so cool to know that people like my writing.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-J**


	5. Quiet

**Trigger Warning: Brief mentions of self harm, anxiety, depression, and PTSD**

* * *

The morning of their fourth anniversary, they have the West mansion all to themselves and Beck wakes her up early, insisting on taking advantage of the chef's kitchen to make her breakfast. She argues, telling him that their usual cereal and freezer waffles are just fine with her, but he just laughs and replies that she deserves better than that. The best, actually.

It turns out that 'the best' is an omelette, fruit salad, and cinnamon french toast. Which he starts preparing while she sits on a barstool at the island and watches. He looks at the food only often enough to ensure that it's cooking properly, spending the rest of the time with his back to it and staring at her. She looks so pretty today and he isn't totally sure why he's so hung up on that, but he can't stop looking, even when she sends him a questioning glare that he can almost believe is real.

She has one leg dangling underneath her, moving back and forth rhythmically because she can never sit completely still for long, and the other one is hugged to her chest, foot on the seat and knee supporting her chin. Her long curls, brown again for senior year of high school, are tied up in a messy bun and she's wearing nothing except for his dark purple flannel, held together by three buttons, and her plain black boyshorts. Her face is free of make up and she does nothing to hide the scars crisscrossing on her arms, thighs, and torso. It's hard to really imagine this girl, who laughs so easily and compliments more than complains, is the same girl who will undoubtedly go to school on Monday wearing a scowl and yell at anyone who so much as mildly inconveniences her. But Beck is used to this change and well-acquainted with the reason for it. That being the mess of anxiety, depression, and PTSD swirling around in Jade's head at all times. When it quiets down, though, Beck gets to see this Jade, who has no trouble being soft and childish and excited. This Jade who is happy.

* * *

**I've got three of these to post tonight. Hopefully, I'll be updating my other stories later this week and I might have a few more chapters for this story as well. Maybe a separate one-shot or two just because I still have a lot of old stuff on my Drive that I want to post eventually. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**-J**


	6. Bisexuality

When Tori arrived at her normal table in the Asphalt Cafe for lunch that day, she was relieved to see Beck and Jade cuddled up on one of the benches, both grinning broadly as they talked and unconsciously leaning closer toward each other with every sentence. Jade and Beck had been fighting all week and, of course, dragged their friends into the argument, making lunch extremely awkward for all of them. She was unbelievably glad to know that the awkwardness was coming to an end, even if it meant being forced to bear witness to more PDA in one hour than she had ever cared to see in her entire life.

"Hey," Tori said cheerfully as she sat down across from them, noticing then that she was the last of her friends to arrive at the table. She was met with a chorus of distracted greetings and then the conversation continued around her as if there was never an interruption.

"Jadey, you look tired," Cat remarked and Tori tried not to think about the fact that she hadn't been the least bit aware of that.

"Don't worry about it," Jade said shortly, barely looking up from her salad. Tori did notice that her words weren't quite as harsh as they would have been if any of the others- excluding Beck, obviously- had asked.

"Yeah, Little Red," Andre said, nudging Cat's shoulder conspiratorially. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure they were up real late. Canoodling… if you know what I mean."

Cat looked as if she had absolutely no idea what that meant, but everyone else at the table groaned and Jade shot Andre the best death glare she could manage while being so tired.

"If you must know," She snapped "we were up late watching TV. We've been a little obsessed with Brooklyn Nine Nine lately."

"Yeah," Beck said. "It's the perfect show for us to watch together. I love the dumb jokes and ridiculous crime solving and this one," he tightened his arm around Jade's shoulders to pull her into a side hug. "Has a little bit of a crush on Melissa Fumero."

Jade's glare turned towards Beck then, but it was mostly playful and he just laughed and dropped a kiss onto her head. Tori almost choked on her french fry. Obviously Beck was teasing Jade, but he didn't seem to be making up the crush part. Could Jade actually have a crush on a girl? And would Beck be so okay with it that he would joke about it with their friends at lunch?

"Amy? Doesn't seem like your type, West," Andre said, shrugging.

"Yeah," Cat chimed in and Tori felt relieved to know that she wasn't the only one caught off guard by this. "She's so nice. I thought you would go for someone like Rosa, more… you know, mean and terrifying."

"Shut up," Jade muttered, her face red. She was smiling though, which only confused Tori further.

"You, uh... like girls?" Tori asked, unable to stop herself. "But you're dating Beck?" This time, Jade's glare was serious and fully focused on her and Tori found herself wanting to sink through the concrete and die.

"_Shit, _I'm sorry, Babe. I thought she knew," Beck said to his girlfriend, loosening his grip so he could look at her. Jade just shrugged and turned her attention back to Tori.

"I'm bisexual, Vega. That means I like guys and girls. Problem?"

"No!" Tori said immediately, gripping Andre's arm for fear of being killed on the spot. "I just- I didn't know."

Jade kept glaring, even after Beck changed the subject.

* * *

**I'm fully aware that B99 was a weird show to pick for this, but it was the first one I thought of and then my brain got stuck on it. I also hate the ending, but whatever. ******I've always sort of had a head cannon that Jade's bi and I wanted to write about how Tori might have found out.****

**Post 2/3 for tonight.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-J**


	7. Shaving

"Fuck!"

Beck can't say that his girlfriend's loud curses are in any way uncommon in his RV, but it does mildly concern him that this particular explative is coming from the tiny bathroom, where Jade is supposed to be showering.

"You good?" He calls, looking up from his English paper and towards the Broadway poster on the closed bathroom door.

"Yeah…" She seems distracted and slightly concerned. Beck's heart rate picks up.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sorry, just cut myself shaving and it's kinda bad."

Beck is off the couch and into the bathroom before she can say anything else. Jade is standing in the shower with her foot propped up on the edge of the tub, an alarming amount of blood running down her ankle and being washed down the drain by the still running water. She seems completely unconcerned by the fact that she's naked and he doesn't even stop to notice it, just kneels down next to her to examine her cut. It is bad.

He immediately jumps to action, grabbing paper towels from the 'kitchen' and pressing a bundle to the source of the blood at her calf. Once the bleeding has slowed down enough, he takes a waterproof Band-Aid from their overflowing medicine cabinet and carefully smoothes it over the cut, but not before pressing a kiss to it that makes Jade roll her eyes.

"You're a dork."

"Made you smile, though."

Her smile widens and then turns into a pout. "Ugh. I still have to finish shaving and now I really don't want to."

Beck laughs and grabs the purple razor left abandoned on the side of the tub, running it under the water to clean the blood off. "I'll do it."

Jade looks at him, brows furrowed, and stutters for a few seconds before she can form a coherent sentence. "Umm… no offense, but do you actually know how to shave legs? It's a little different from just shaving your face."

This time, Beck rolls his eyes. "I got this, babe."

It turns out, Beck did actually 'have it'. He was careful and thorough, asking questions when he wasn't really sure what to do or how high up to go. Painfully slow, but he didn't so much as scrape a white line across her skin.

When he was done, and she was dry, they lay in bed together, drawing tiny patterns on each other's skin.

"You, uh, you know you don't need to shave all the time if you don't want to, right? Like, I don't care, don't do it for me."

He feels the soft exhale against his chest that means she's laughing and he can't help but smile back, even if she can't see. "You're, like, really sweet, you know."

"I resent that."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

* * *

**Final one-shot for tonight. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**-J**


	8. Parenting

It's almost three in the morning, pitch black in their bedroom, and they're tangled up in each other, catching up after a busy week with crappy schedules and talking about relatively insignificant things. She gets quiet after a while, but doesn't move to lay down, so he knows she isn't getting too tired to continue the conversation. He's also at least mostly sure that he didn't somehow anger her with the last thing he said ("Do you think bees can smell fear?"). So he concludes she's gotten lost in her head, as she often does, and waits patiently for her to resurface, taking in the scent of her apple shampoo and enjoying the feeling of her cuddled up to him.

When she finally does say something, it's so quiet he wouldn't have been able to hear her if he had been any farther away from her.

"I want to have a kid."

Beck honestly didn't really expect her to be ready so soon. If at all. Ever since they were kids, she'd always said 'maybe' when he asked if she wanted to be a mom. He never pushed because yeah, he wanted kids, but he didn't want them more than he wanted to be married to her. The last few years, they'd both been really focused on their careers (now they're twenty nine with two Emmys and a Grammy between them!) and he'd accepted that it wasn't going to happen. At least not for a while.

So, of course he was surprised when she brought it up completely unprompted (but then again, he shouldn't have been. She never did anything just because she was prompted). He apparently didn't do a great job of hiding it, either. Or maybe she just knew him too well for him to hide anything from her.

"I never said no," she reminds him. "I said 'maybe' and you took it to mean 'no'. I've told you never to assume things about me."

He just laughs and kisses her. Hard. He can't really believe it. She wants a kid! She's going to be such an amazing mom. He's absolutely positive about that. Has been since they were twelve and her little brother was born.

"Hold on," she says softly, pushing gently at his chest to get him to move away a bit. "I know I'll be a good mom. I just probably won't be what society thinks a good mom should look like. I mean, I'm probably not going to be _that _careful about swearing and I won't be mad if they want to dye their hair or get piercings or have sex or anything. Obviously, I'll talk to them about why all that stuff might be dangerous or whatever, but I'm not going to be angry at them for wanting to try things. I'm not gonna be, like, strict and ground them or yell at them all the time. Or ever, really. I don't think I have it in me to act like that even a little bit after growing up with my dad. I totally get it if you want to parent differently and we can try to work something out, but I'd rather figure that out before we actually have to commit because I'm also not about to bring a kid into a house where their parents fight about them all the time."

He's quiet for a second, surprised at how passionate she already is and how much she's obviously been thinking about it (again, he probably shouldn't have been. She wouldn't have brought it up if she hadn't thought it through). Eventually, he breaks into a grin and kisses her again.

"You're gonna be amazing at this, Babe. I can already tell. And you really think I expected us to be 'traditional' parents? Of course we're gonna do it differently, but that's good! And, honestly, I expected everything on that list and I pretty much completely agree. I want to raise a kid with _you, _Jade_._ You're weird and unique and amazing and our kid will be too. I wouldn't want it any other way."

He's sure the conversation is over for the night when she pretty much tackles him onto his back and starts kissing him, but just when he's ready to pull off her- well, _his_\- shirt, she stops and looks him in the eye.

"One more thing. There is no way in _hell _I'm pushing a kid out of my vagina. We can adopt or use a surrogate or whatever, but I don't want to give birth."

That one didn't surprise Beck. She'd been saying that since they were teenagers and he had absolutely no issue with it. That part is her choice completely. And he sort of likes the idea of helping a kid that would otherwise grow up in foster care. Besides, it's not like the kid'll be any less theirs. He and Jade will still be the ones raising them and teaching them and providing for them and screwing them up. That kid is going to be so loved. And Beck _really _can't wait to meet them.

He finally does get to meet the kid- _their _kid!- about a year later. After several more discussions and then months of home visits and interviews and waiting, Beck and Jade are approved to adopt a little girl named Caterina.

She's 18 months old and sweet and bubbly and _absolutely perfect. _She had a really rough home life until about three months ago when CPS was called to investigate a report filed by a neighbor. There was evidence of her biological parents doing some pretty messed up stuff to her that Beck can never think about for too long without crying over.

They call her Cat and paint her bedroom with a rainbow of bright colors (Jade vehemently refuses to use pink any more often than every other color). She loves bananas and _Goodnight Moon _and music and everything Disney. She warms up to Jade _instantly _and Beck pretty soon after.

Being a dad- having a family- is honestly so incredible. Beck didn't really realize how much it could change him. He absolutely _lives _for his girl (and Jade, of course). He loves making her laugh and teaching her stuff and narrating everything he's doing in a way that really annoys Jade. He takes a year off work (because Jade would never want to and neither of them loved the idea of getting a babysitter) and spends almost all of his time playing dolls and watching Disney movies with Cat. He tries to get her interested in watching hockey and drag racing, but she gets bored quickly. She loves the Fisher-Price car he got her, though. They play outside a lot, too. Beck and Andre built her a playset and they bought a kiddie pool, both of which Cat spends hours exploring. He tries to teach her everything he can and, even at such a young age, she seems pretty receptive. He also loves learning the words to Disney and Broadway songs so he and Jade can sing them to her.

Speaking of Jade. Jade is an amazing mom. True to her word, she plays Cat all her favorite music with no attention paid to the swear words and teaches her to insult Beck's idiot cousins as soon as she starts talking. Cat sits with Jade while they watch horror movies (nothing _too _gory. Jade is pretty careful about that.) and never seems afraid of the scary images in front of her. At least, until she sits with anyone who isn't Jade. Then, she screams her head off. She never freaks out when Jade yells (never at Cat herself, but at plenty of other people. See: aforementioned idiot cousins) and she actually seems like she understands some of Jade's jokes, however sarcastic they may be.

But motherhood changes Jade, too. She sings all the Disney songs Cat loves and even learns to play them on the piano. She plays princesses with her (although Jade's version of 'princesses' involves much more political and battle strategizing than the average game might. Cat loves it). She reads three stories and sings a lullaby every night (said lullaby is called _Goodnight Demonslayer _and, honestly, Beck wouldn't have expected anything less). She knows when to say no, too, which Beck hasn't quite figured out yet. Jade definitely doesn't coddle Cat, but her expectations are reasonable and she gives more than enough comfort and compliments and love.

Watching his two girls together is Beck's favorite thing in the world. They're both so incredible and interesting and perfect.

As Cat grows up, she starts to exhibit some… interesting traits. She has an extremely short attention span and gets _really _sensitive to criticism and anger and anything even remotely sad. Beck and Jade really aren't sure where any of that stuff came from. They take her to a doctor when she has a panic attack because she lost her stuffed giraffe.

Cat is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Beck swears he feels his heart stop. Apparently, it can be caused by some combination of genetics and stress. If either of her birth parents had it, their abuse definitely would have triggered it in Cat. Beck feels sort of… lost after hearing the news. His perfect little girl will have to deal with the dangerous, extreme mood swings for the rest of her life.

Jade takes it fairly well, though, once the anger at Cat's bio parents passes. They take her to therapy twice a week and start on a medication regimen and do as much research as they possibly can about how to help her. They homeschool her for a few years until they can get her symptoms stabilized and work as hard as they can to fit their unconventional jobs into stable hours to develop a routine for Cat to follow.

As hard as the diagnosis is to wrap their heads around, they manage to figure it out. Cat is still the same little girl- impossibly, amazingly sweet and creative and smart.

She develops a talent and a passion for singing and performing, so they enroll her in Hollywood Arts, a performing arts school with a reputation for being extremely unique. Which fits Cat perfectly. She loves the school and her classes and her friends.

Beck and Jade go to every play and showcase she's in. Jade helps her learn to read and write music and Beck runs lines with her. They take her to extra vocal and dance classes on the weekends and after school. They buy hundreds of dollars worth of props and costumes and supplies every year. They support her and help her and love her as much as they possibly can- and then a little more.

Just as she promised so long ago, Jade lets Cat dye her hair bright red and has increasingly more detailed sex ed conversations with her every year or so. Jade helps her through the heartbreak that comes along when she develops a complicated relationship with a kid named Robbie that confuses everyone involved. Both she and Robbie come out as gay a few months later and that explains everything.

Beck is sort of proud of both him and Jade because Cat wasn't at all concerned about coming out to them. She never doubted that they would support her.

She starts dating a girl named Tori Vega who is apparently the most popular girl in school. Jade's not a huge fan of hers, but Cat's happy and that's all that matters.

When Cat's a senior and the school starts pushing her to pick a college for next year, Cat goes through an unexpectedly severe depressive episode. It takes a while to get it out of her, but eventually Cat tearfully confesses that she doesn't want to leave them yet. They promise her that she doesn't have to and help her pick a school that's close by so she can commute. Honestly, they weren't ready for her to leave yet either.

Cat does eventually move into a tiny apartment with Tori and starts working as a makeup artist for some pretty big movies. She works on an album when she has some free time and gets it produced through Andre's record company a few years later. It's an instant hit.

In the next few years, Cat's fame easily eclipses that of her parents and they couldn't be more proud. Her music is great and she's so passionate about it. Beck cries the first time he sees her perform at a small county fair and then again when she receives her own Grammy at twenty four.

She marries Tori in a pink princess dress and Beck and Jade both walk her down the aisle. The girls try for years to get pregnant before eventually having an adorable little boy.

Cat is so overwhelmingly successful, but she remains that same, sweet little kid they adopted all those years ago in Beck's eyes. She still visits all the time and keeps them updated with everything going on in her life.

Beck can still perfectly recall that dark bedroom and Jade's whispered admission on that night that seems like a lifetime ago. He still remembers how nervous they were before every interview and the way his heart seemed to be beating out of his chest when he met her for the first time. He's so proud of her and of himself and Jade for doing right by her.

Even now, when the entire world is so in love with her and her music, she- and her mom- are Beck's entire world.

* * *

**So this is really long. Thanks for reading the whole thing. I couldn't find a natural end to this any sooner. The idea to have Jade sing the **_**Goodnight Demonslayer **_**song as a lullaby came from a story I read a while ago that I couldn't find again. It might have been Jori. I think its fits Jade's character pretty well.**

**The idea for this story was given to me by Boris Yeltsin. Thank you so much for the prompt. I hope you liked it. **

**I'd love to hear from anyone else who has prompts or ideas or anything. Let me know what you want to see. And let me know if you want to see a second part or even a larger story about any of these one-shots. **

**If any of you guys watch Liz's current show, Dynasty, I have a Falliam story in progress on AO3. Same username. **

**(Also, Victorious is now on Netflix in the US, so I can finally rewatch it!)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-J**


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